Could 'Fire Paste' Replace Shuttle Tiles?

[fuuucckkers]

"Troy Hurtubise, of bear suit fame, claims to have invented a physics-defying substance called fire paste. "I could coat the belly of the NASA space shuttle with fire paste for $25,000 (US), instead of the $60 million it costs for them to put tiles on it," Hurtubise said. "It can stand up to the heat of re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, and then they can simply wash it off."

Read the entire article here:
http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=63

I think it's pretty cool.

[Anthony]

He’s going to build two small-scale houses, coat one with fire paste and leave the other as is. Then they’re both going to be set on fire. When the fire paste is sprayed off, Hurtubise said, the house will be there intact.

Sounds good... But would it wash off in the rain?

[DADINK13]

Not necesarily. Petroleum-based materials are water-resistant (ie: plastics).

[Anthony]

Then how would you wash it off when you want too (Not that I understand why you would want to wash it off...).

[DADINK13]

Think of the same principle of dry-cleaning. Water isn't used in dry-cleaning, but yet some sort of cleansing agent is. It is a liquid, but not a water-based liquid.


I guess I could say that you could wash it off in a process similar to how dry-cleaning works.

[insomica]

If it's oil based you could use Dawn Soap to cut the oil.

[DADINK13]

I would highly doubt it's petroleum-based. Don't forget that plastics are petroleum-based, and we all know what happens to plastics when they get hot.

[insomica]

I know that's what the face was for. But he did say that you could wash it off.